It was nearing sunset. We had been paddling on and off for two hours without yet reaching our destination, which was one of the many remote islands that looked deceptively close ahead. Without food, water, or a flashlight in the canoe, we were out on Lake Kivu in the middle of nowhere when we noticed the time. Our colleagues Stefani and Apollo were expecting us for dinner at any minute.
We were a group of American students studying in Rwanda. Fortunate souls, we spent the weekend in Kasubi, allowing nature’s beauty to calm our minds. It was a getaway planned by Apollo and Stefani, giving us needed time to process a recent visit to the Murambi genocide memorial. On our last day in Kasubi, four of us rented a canoe for paddling to a chosen Island.
